India gifted over 55 lakh doses of COVID vaccines to its neighbours

The 13 member experts taem of WHO has strted their field work and research on origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan,where the virus emerged in late 2019. During the quarnarine period over the past two weeks, the team has been interacting with each other and Chinese scientists through video calls.The WHO has tried to manage the expectations from the investigation, stressing that it is not about apportioning blame, but about understanding how the virus made the jump to humans and finding ways to prevent the emergence of similar pathogens.Several countries, most vocally the United States and Australia, have accused Beijing of downplaying the outbreak's severity during its early stages. WHO was also severely criticized by the then-US President Donald Trump for behaving pro-China.

-Government on Thursday said that India is the fastest country to reach one million vaccinations in the first six days. Briefing the media in New Delhi this evening, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, United States achieved this feat in 10 days, Spain in 12 days, Israel in 14 days, the UK in 18 days, Italy in 19 days and Germany in 20 days. He said, a total of over 25 lakh seven thousand people have been administered COVID-19 vaccines in the country so far. Mr Bhushan said, on the other hand,  India's daily Covid cases are continuously declining. He said, only Kerala and Maharashtra still have more than 40 thousand cases, which contribute to 67 per cent of the total cases.The Director General ICMR, Delhi Balram Bhargava said, COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech has equivalent immunogenicity against the UK-variant and circulating strains of SARS-COV-2 in India.

-Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday launched the Indo-French year of Environment with his French counterpart Ms. Barbara Pompili. Speaking on the occasion,Javadekar said, the Indo-French partnership on Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and other allied areas will set an example for the rest of the world. He said, India and France have environment projects already underway in Assam, Rajasthan and a project to be started soon in Jharkhand. He said, Year 2021 will witness enhanced cooperation in sustainable development, increasing the effectiveness of actions in favor of global environment protection. Javadekar said, India has made significant progress towards climate change action and has already achieved 26 per cent of reduction of emission intensity. He said, as of 2020 the renewable capacity in India stands at 90 Giga Watt which includes 36 Giga Watt of solar energy and 38 Giga Watt of wind energy. He further added that India looks forward to strengthening the Indo-French cooperation in sustainable development, increasing the effectiveness of actions in favor of global environment protection and giving them greater visibility.

-India has gifted over 55 lakh doses of COVID 19 vaccines to its neighbours and extended neighbourhood since the 20th of January this year. This includes 1.5 lakh doses to Bhutan, 1 lakh to Maldives, 10 lakh to Nepal, 20 lakh to Bangladesh, 15 lakh to Myanmar, 1 lakh to Mauritius, 50 thousand to Seychelles, 5 lakh to Sri Lanka and 1 lakh to Bahrain.Briefing media on Thursday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said  these supplies are based on requests from these countries. Over the next few days, India plans to gift further quantities of 1 lakh doses to Oman, 5 lakh to CARICOM countries, 2 lakh to Nicaragua and 2 lakh to Pacific Island states. Srivastava said there is interest in many countries in accessing vaccines from India. In line with the Prime Minister’s announcement that India sees international cooperation in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as its duty, the country has played the role of the first responder in the neighbourhood as well as undertaken supplies to countries beyond.Commercial exports have taken place to Brazil, Morocco and Bangladesh. Further commercial supplies are likely to reach Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Canada, and Mongolia. Further, India is going to supply 1 crore doses to Africa and 10 lakh doses to UN health workers under GAVI’s COVAX facility

-Delhi Police Special Cell is investigating a larger conspiracy and criminal designs behind the unfortunate events that happened during farmers tractor rally on 26th January.In a statement, the police said, a preliminary assessment suggests that there was a pre-conceived and well coordinated plan to break the agreement reached between Delhi Police and leaders of farmers organisations. A criminal case has been registered and is being investigated under provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and sections of IPC dealing with sedition. Delhi Police said, the role and conduct of organisations and individuals based in India as well as those out of country is being probed.The Kisan Andolan turned violent on republic day leading to damage to public properties in several parts of the national capital. Public property worth several crores has been damaged by the violent mob and 394 police personnel sustained injuries while performing their lawful duty.